Fruit Bowl Alchemy
by beesandbrews
Summary: A Series 1 story. The team goes to a remote rural location where a mysterious alien plant has poisoned a farm family. Jack and Ianto use the oportunity to get a bit closer. Owen performs a medical miracle Contains medical drama and adult situations


Owen strode out of the rough hewn farmhouse and watched the Audi's silhouette wind slowly up the long dirt track. His impatience was obvious in his rigid posture and the deep frown lines that gathered around his thin lips. His eyes seemed hawk-like as he tracked the car's careful progress through the series of gates and enclosures that separated the house from the fields and pastures surrounding it. "It's about time Ianto got here."

"Relax, Owen." Jack placed a consoling hand on the medic's shoulder. "We're hours from Cardiff and the roads up here aren't great. Would it have made things any better if he'd cracked an axle trying to save a couple of minutes? "

Owen replied with a stare of flat incredulity. A cautious driving lecture from the man who treated Cardiff and its environs like Silverstone? "Whatever," he replied dismissively. "And before you start telling me to count my lucky stars he stayed behind to attend the Mayor's conference - Don't. Just get that gate so he doesn't waste any more time."

The Audi crunched over the crushed shale of the drive and came to a stop. The boot popped open as the engine died and Ianto's long legs swung out of the driver's side door. Owen went straight to the back of the car, rummaging through the boxes and containers of supplies. He hefted a carton of medical equipment and hustled inside.

"You're welcome," Ianto called to his retreating back. "Glad to be of service."

"Don't mind him. He's in Doctor mode." Jack tried to soften Owen's rudeness with a more personal greeting.

Ianto acknowledged the hand on his hip with a brief smile and then deftly shifted out of Jack's reach before the others could see them. "Sleeping bags and extra clothing, medical supplies and biological containment units, plus everything else you requested. Sir, I understand the need for several days worth of food, but why did you need a box each of apples and bananas?" He hefted a crate out of the boot and handed it off before taking several bags of perishable food items for himself.

Jack tipped his head toward a field of tall, leafy plants. "Because of those. Come on inside and I'll fill you in."

* * *

"So that's it," Jack said as Ianto set a plate of sandwiches down on the heavy oak kitchen table. "The people in the other room are dying. The plant out there is toxic when it's immature and can supply the cure when it blossoms. Unfortunately, by then it's usually too late for the victim. Owen figures he can force the bloom cycle by exposing the plant to the gases produced by ripening fruit."

"So our job here is to?"

"Dig up a couple of plants without managing to get poisoned, destroy the rest of the field, and keep that family in there alive until Owen can brew up his cure." Jack picked up a thick cut ham and cheese sandwich and crammed half of the triangle into his mouth just as Toshiko and Gwen walked into the kitchen.

Toshiko accepted a cup from Ianto as Gwen folded into a chair, pushed a hand through her fringe, and then began to report. "I've been on to the local agricultural agent and the nick. They seem to confirm the findings of your crop dusting reconnaissance. No other reports of the plants and no disappearances reported of any of the locals. It's a tight knit community despite the size of the area, and they claim they would know. I also contacted the local clinics and they've no cases matching the plant poisoning. I think we struck lucky, Jack. Thanks, Ianto," she added as Ianto set a cup of coffee and a plate down in front of her.

"Crop dusting?" Ianto lifted an eyebrow.

"Jack found the only aeroplane for miles. I think it was actually held together with baling wire and sticky tape." Gwen smiled over her cup.

"It was a little rough," Jack admitted. "But not that bad. And it did let me get a good look at the valley." He glanced out the large paned window that looked out into the contaminated pasture. The sun was already starting to dip low on the horizon. "You girls can head back in the morning and keep an eye on things at home. We'll finish the clean up here and see you back in Cardiff in a couple of days. Tosh, any problems rigging the enclosures Owen wanted?"

Toshiko looked up from cup she was holding between her palms and shook her head. "No. Everything is ready. All we need to do is add the plants."

Jack crammed the last of his sandwich down and chewed vigorously. "Right. That's my job. Ianto, go change into something more suitable for playing tractor jockey. Once I get Owen's samples it's down to you to take out the rest."

* * *

On the other side of the slate-roofed farmhouse, Owen studied the face of the stricken woman. He still didn't know her name and at this point in the process, it probably was best. She was hovering between Life and Death, and of her two suitors, Death was pressing his case more forcefully. Owen could feel His chill presence as he pushed away lank strands of prematurely greying hair off a forehead that was creased and lined from hard work and worry.

The farm was well tended, but it was clear from the ancient television in the parlour and the worn clothing hanging in the wardrobe that these were people who were used to squeezing a penny until it squeaked and then squeezing again for luck. Because of his own impoverished upbringing it made him uncomfortably sympathetic. Owen disliked any form of emotional investment in his cases. It made it harder to walk away when he failed.

The bedsprings creaked as Owen got up to check on his other patients.

The man laying on the other side of the bed was in slightly better shape. He'd actually been conscious when they'd arrived on scene, greeting them at the gate with a plea for help before he collapsed to his knees. He'd even been able to point out the cause of his affliction. Where once there'd been pasture grass was now a field full of lush plants he'd never seen before.

Fortunately, it wasn't the first time the plants had made an appearance on Earth. Even more fortunately, Owen remembered he'd read about them only a few weeks earlier as soon as he clapped eyes on them. Toshiko found the references in the medical and science archives while he got the victims stabilised. He'd even done what he could for their dog.

The archive reference referred to them as _Mason masonii _after the Torchwood scientist who had first described the plant and then been killed by it in a similar event outside of Swansea in 1903. Someone had scrawled in the margin of the report _Blooms Too Late_, a much more fanciful name. Owen had puzzled over the unusual sobriquet until he got to the section of the document describing the dual nature of the plant and its ability to both kill and cure.

He felt grateful to old Mason's lab assistant, the one who kept the research going after his boss died. If it weren't for him, Death would have already won this round and Owen would have fuck all to do but sit back and watch. If his experiment worked, at least these people had a fighting chance of survival.

* * *

There was a knock at the door followed by the sound of the old fashioned latch lifting. Jack glanced up to see the door open a fraction.

"Need any help?" Ianto offered.

"Yeah, come on in."

The door opened a bit wider and Ianto slipped into the combination laundry and storeroom where Jack was changing.

Jack's braces were hanging against his hips and he'd already stripped away his outer shirt. He paused with his hands on the hem of his vest and grinned as he saw Ianto's casual attire. "You really work the suits, Ianto, but those jeans." He made as if to pounce.

Ianto hastily shut the door firmly behind him. "Careful, sir. Hazardous mission you're about to go on. You want to keep your focus." He kept his tone just on the right side of chiding professionalism, but if Jack chose to interpret the subtle quirk of this mouth as teasing, Ianto wouldn't dissuade him.

Jack's eyes wandered slowly down the length of Ianto's body and back up again. "Oh, I'm focused all right." He stepped forward and into Ianto's personal space, coming to stand chest to chest for the briefest of moments before moving to the side and retrieving the hazardous conditions suit sitting on the ironing board. He pushed the flat pack into Ianto's hands without breaking eye contact. "Help me get into this thing, will you?"

Ianto gulped and nodded slowly. He ran the tip of his tongue over his lips before remembering they weren't really alone and looked away. "Of course, sir. It will only take a moment."

He tore away the tape and extracted the suit from the plastic wrapping, shook it free of wrinkles, and undid the zip as Jack stripped out of the rest of his clothes and hopped up to sit on the washing machine.

Ianto worked Jack's feet into the booties and then when he stood, moved smoothly behind him to lift the suit into position so that Jack could slip easily into the sleeves. He ran his hands down Jack's arms to make sure there were no twists or bindings. His fingers lingered as he worked the material carefully over Jack's shoulders, straightening the hood before moving around front to take possession of the zip tab and raising it slowly to Jack's throat.

"Comfortable?" he inquired mildly.

Jack stared at him, transfixed for a long moment before an mischievous smile broke over his face. "Tease. You are so going to make that up to me."

Ianto opened the door. "I believe time is of the essence?" He ducked the slap Jack aimed at his arse, but only just.

* * *

"How are they?" Toshiko watched as Owen injected the contents of a syringe into a bag of Ringers Lactate, kneaded the contents until the drug was evenly distributed, and then started a fresh drip.

Owen tucked the threadbare blanket a little higher under the point of the little girl's chin before replying. "She's holding her own, but her parents are touch and go. It doesn't look good, Tosh." He removed his gloves with a defeated snap and tossed them in the bin next to the iron bedstead. "You get those plants potted up?"

Toshiko nodded. "Exactly as you instructed. Everything is as the information in the database says it should be. Temperature, light, humidity are all optimal for flowering." She peered at him with concern. "Why don't you take a break? You've been working non-stop since we arrived here. There's sandwiches. Something hot to drink. I'll keep an eye on things in here."

Owen gave her a thin lipped smile in return. "Yeah. Thanks." He made it as far as the doorway before turning and saying, "If anything changes. You come get me."

Night had fallen some time earlier, but as Owen slumped at the kitchen table, the low sound of a tractor's engine rumbling carried through from outside. There was a large window above the kitchen sink. He glanced outward and watched disinterestedly as headlights played over the thick stand of alien plants. He was tired, worried for his patients, and frustrated he couldn't do more than wait. The play of lights in the otherwise tranquil field was hypnotising and he began to drift.

"Tea?"

Owen started, shaking himself awake. Gwen was standing at the old fashioned range with the kettle in her hand. He hadn't even heard her come in let alone start messing about at the hob.

"Yeah. Sure." He rubbed a hand over his face and yawned as Gwen fished about amongst the cupboards and pulled out a box of teabags and a large green ceramic pot.

"Oh, what's this?" She pulled a packet out from behind a box of cereal and waved it at Owen. His eyes were tired and he was more interested in the tea that Gwen had forgotten in favour of the red plasticine sachet.

With a weary huff of exasperation, he pushed out of the chair to deal with the tea himself as the kettle began to whistle. He poured water into the pot and swished it around whilst Gwen continued to poke. She pulled a bowl and baking tray from the bank of cupboards near the sink. Owen dumped hot water over the teabags, snagged a cup from the sideboard, and settled in to watch as Gwen added water and stirred.

"So what did you find?" The milk and sugar were already on the table. Owen dumped liberal amounts of both into his tea. Gwen waved the bag again, this time close enough so he could see it. "Biscuits. We're in the middle of a crisis and you're baking?"

Gwen looked pensively out the window where the tractor still moved slowly through the field. "I've got nothing to do. You have your patients. Tosh has her science. Ianto's busy being indispensable. I thought they might be nice."

Owen slurped tea, tried to parse Gwen-logic and decided it was over his head. He was tired, enough so he'd fallen asleep sitting up. Some place there was an extra bed or maybe a sofa with his name on it. He decided to find out where that might be. "Just don't burn the place down. These old Agas are tricky beasts." With a final swallow, he grabbed one of the sleeping bags still stacked by the doorway and shuffled off to find a proper kip.

* * *

Ianto shut down the tractor with a weary sigh. The equipment still needed tending to but it could wait until morning. He climbed out of the cab and jumped down to earth being careful to stay well clear of the lower part of the tractor and any potential contaminants. He was unsurprised when Jack appeared from the barn.

"The house is kind of crowded. I thought we might bunk in here tonight." He pointed casually toward the upper level of the barn and its large hayloft.

Ianto pursed his lips as he tried not to smile. Jack was practically the stereotype of the All American Farm Boy, dressed as he was in a pair of new dark blue denims and a work shirt. He had a straw hanging artfully out of the corner of his mouth that only completed the picture. It made a change from Jack Harkness: Action Hero. Ianto was nearly persuaded.

"Don't you think the others will notice we're spending a lot of time together? After all, you've managed to arrange to share quarters with me the last few times we've had to stay over in the field."

"Have I?" An odd expression passed briefly over Jack's face and he shrugged. "Then how about a quick roll in the hay?" He waggled his eyebrows and Ianto laughed. He was tired and could do with a shower, but Jack had already grabbed his wrist and was pulling him towards the barn.

"No kisses," Ianto warned as he dropped the bar on the door behind them. Jack stepped in close behind him and was busy licking at the skin just above the neckline of his shirt. "No marks."

"No marks anyone else can see," Jack countered as his hands slipped to Ianto's waist and began to work his belt buckle free. Belt and flies dealt with, he spun Ianto around and dropped to kneel. Jack wasted no time latching on to the inside of Ianto's thigh and raising a love bite before moving in for his main objective.

* * *

By mutual agreement, Ianto waited ten minutes after Jack left before following him into the house. Perhaps it was unnecessary discretion, but maybe not. Though their coupling had been swift and mutually satisfying, Jack was still in an odd, over affectionate mood, channelling his anxiety over a hopeless situation in a somewhat inappropriate way.

Ianto understood. There was something about being around the dying that made one want to celebrate life, but he had no desire to explain strange neck bruises or why his lips were puffy and unusually pink. Still, he wasn't prepared to find Jack standing at the kitchen sink with one arm around Gwen's shoulders as he reached for a tea towel.

"Ianto!" Jack sounded surprised, as if he hadn't seen Ianto for hours. "Look, Gwen's been baking." He waved a chocolate chip biscuit in the air.

Ianto smiled back politely. "They look lovely. I'll just go wash up, yeah?"

* * *

After examining his patients, Owen went out to the barn to check on the progress of the plants. He was surprised by the beauty he saw and took a bit of time to admire it.

If it were down to him, he would have chucked the plants into the Plexiglass terrariums, dumped in a couple of dozen apples and bananas, checked to make sure everything was plugged in and working and called the job done.

Being Japanese and all, Owen supposed Toshiko must have done a course in flower arranging. It seemed so natural the way the plants were nestled in the centre of a basket woven of bananas. The apples that crowned the banana nest added just the right bit of colour, although they were there to supplement the ethylene levels and not because they were pretty.

Owen wasn't supposed to care about pretty. He was supposed to be concerned about getting the plant to flower in two days instead of ten. That Blooms Too Late had lush pale green-grey arrow-shaped leaves was irrelevant. It was the thick, round stem at its middle and the fist-shaped flower that looked a bit like an artichoke that should hold Owen's professional attention.

Once it blossomed he could cut the stems, scoop out the viscous nectar that pooled in the base, and make an anti-toxin. Then he could be Owen Harper, Miracle Worker and for just a few minutes he would have the respect and admiration of his colleagues, even Jack, and the world would be a good and just place. At least until the next crisis when everything would go to shit again with Owen firmly at its centre.

* * *

When Ianto entered the kitchen with a basket of eggs in hand he was surprised to find Jack stoking the stove with coal.

"I saw you working in the barnyard. Is everything out there all right?" Jack inquired as he rinsed his hands under the tap.

Ianto nodded. "Thank God they don't have a cow. The hens and the pigs were enough to contend with."

Jack smirked. Ianto could practically see the beginning of a nostalgic story bubbling forth. No doubt it would be a somewhat bawdy adventure involving a milkmaid, and the punchline would be something along the lines of emyou just gotta give 'em a little squeeze. /em But he wasn't sure he was up for that yet. Not when his dreams had been full of Jack giving his masculine bits a much firmer seeing to. Maybe he could persuade Jack back into the hayloft — damn the man for being such an early riser.

"Is there coffee?" Ianto asked, successfully derailing both Jack's train of thought, and very nearly, his own.

"Hob."

"Brilliant."

Ianto set about pouring himself a cup but passed it off as the door opened and Owen strode through with his hand outstretched. He took a deep draught and frowned accusingly. "You didn't make this."

Ianto took the cup Jack handed him and noticed the somewhat parched scent. He took a sip and swallowed hastily. The coffee wasn't strong, it was industrial. He was reasonably sure there was paint stripper in the barn that had a milder kick.

"Is there a problem, Owen?" Jack said. He looked up from where he was busy breaking eggs into a bowl.

"No problem at all." Owen smiled tightly, set the cup down and walked out of the kitchen towards the back of the house without another word. He had bigger things on his mind.

* * *

"Owen!"

Owen jerked at the sound of Jack's bellow. There had been fear in his voice and that could only mean one thing. Something had gone wrong. Someone was dying. He ran outside.

"We were just getting ready to leave, putting the last of our things in the car, when she collapsed," Gwen said. Owen strode past, extracting useful data from the barely coherent explanation. The only emshe/em other than Gwen getting ready to go anywhere was Toshiko.

"Damn it," he muttered absently. "She must have been accidentally exposed working with the plants."

He couldn't believe it. Toshiko was normally so careful he figured anal retentive people would call her on it. It didn't seem possible, but there she was cradled in Jack's arms like a broken doll. "Unless... That damn dog." The black and white spaniel had met them at the gate. Toshiko had pet the blasted thing before its owner had called it away. emBefore they knew about Blooms Too Late./em

He thumbed back her eyelids and placed a palm over her heart. "Get her back to the kid's bedroom. And don't waste time. Toshiko doesn't have it."

Jack ran, mindful of the low ceilings and narrow corridors. He deposited Toshiko gently on the tired mattress and moved out of Owen's way just as Gwen ran in with his medical bag.

"Thanks. Jack, you stay. Everybody else, out. I need room to work."

"Come on, Gwen." Ianto gently guided her through the doorway and back up the passageway towards the kitchen. "I'll make some tea."

The stove was burning low and needed feeding. Ianto added rough chunks of coal to build it back up again before refilling the kettle. Gwen's biscuits were still sitting on the sideboard, so he set them on the table.

Gwen picked one up and began to pick it apart, eating the chocolate bits and leaving the crumbs on the plate.

Ianto watched her for a moment and then turned away. It was better to keep busy. He made the tea, poured a cup for Gwen and set it on the table. Jack had cooked breakfast, he'd even done most of the washing up, but eggs had stuck to the bottom of the frying pan and he'd left it in the sink to soak.

The stuck on bits lifted with a firm application of elbow grease. Ianto rinsed the pan and put it away. So much to do in a place like this. He needed to keep busy. It kept his mind from worrying about things he couldn't control.

* * *

"She's stable for now." Owen snapped off his exam gloves and binned them in one smooth motion. "I think her contact must have been fairly minor. Probably secondary exposure from handling Spot over there." He hitched a thumb towards the other bedroom where the family pet lay unconscious on a sheet of oilcloth at the foot of her master's bed. "Damn dog probably ran through the field and picked up microfibres in its fur."

Just then a keening howl echoed mournfully from the other bedroom. Jack and Owen exchanged a glance. There was no mistaking the anguished cry. They bolted for the doorway, struggling briefly to get through until Owen shoved Jack to the side.

The dog gave a last heavy sigh as it breathed its last and went still.

Owen double gloved, mindful of accidental exposure and did a quick once over of the spaniel. He palpated the chest and pulled back the dog's lip from its gum and then shook his head. "Dead," he pronounced.

The word rang with a dull sense of finality. He folded the oilcloth over the corpse and stared down at it. "In the name of science I should do a necropsy, but I'm not sure it would make any difference to the rest of them if it were liver or heart failure."

"How much longer until those flowers bloom?" Jack asked grimly.

"Not soon enough." Owen stared out the cracked pane of the bedroom window and out onto the sheep pasture beyond. "Go on, get that out of here. I'll deal with it later."

* * *

The death of the dog cast a pall over the remainder of the day. Gwen took up a station over the stricken, roaming restlessly from room to room to watch each hitch in their breaths and pain-filled tremor while Owen gave into his scientific curiosity and did a necropsy on the dog.

"Total system failure," he announced.

Jack grunted in reply as he stared moodily at the trio of containment units willing the plants inside to bloom while Ianto prepared a funeral pyre.

"Whenever you're ready," Ianto said into the crushing tension.

"Fine." Owen didn't spare any of them another glance as he went back inside to check on his patients.

* * *

In the containment units the bright yellow bananas dappled with brown flecks and streaks. The plants nested at their centre responded to the soup of ethylene and other growth hormones that drifted in an atmosphere enriched with additional CO2 . The protective bracket of sepals began to fold backward exposing the tight cluster of vibrant red petals underneath. Jack paced a rut in the barn floor and willed the process to happen faster.

* * *

"I'm losing her." Owen's voice was dull and utterly dispassionate. The woman may have come from sturdy stock, but not even hard Welsh mountain folk were a match for alien toxins. "We're down to hours."

Grey dawn seeped in through the window. It matched his flat, hopeless mood.

"You've got to do something, Owen," Gwen protested. "Give her some drug."

Owen sighed. He'd used everything in his medical bag of tricks. He'd brought her back from Death's door once already when her heart had stopped. She needed more than he could do for her and she was too unstable to move, even if they could airlift her to a proper hospital. "Her organs are shutting down, just like the dog's."

"Mam!"

The thin, piping cry of the little girl in the next room tore at Owen's heart and twisted his gut. He had expected the child to be the next casualty after the spaniel, but she hung on, lapsing in and out of consciousness, her thin chest labouring as she fought for each breath.

"You can't let them die!" Gwen pushed her hair out of her face. She dropped her hands to her hips then shook a fist at him to stress her words. "You've got to do something!"

Owen stared at her for one long moment before stalking out of the room to check the progress of the flowers.

* * *

"They're very close." Ianto put his hand on Jack's shoulder offering what comfort he could. The flowers were starting to bloom, but the process was maddeningly slow. And it was probably like boiling water and tea kettles, staring only delayed the process.

"Close only counts for hand grenades," Owen snapped from behind them.

Ianto pulled his hand off Jack's shoulder, not that he thought Owen noticed, his attention was fixated on the centre containment unit, where yellow stamens were unfurling in the middle of the blood-red blossom.

"What would happen if you harvested the flower early?" Jack knew the answer, they'd already discussed all the research in the archive in detail twice, but he asked the question anyway.

"They don't work until the flowers are dead ripe. From the looks of that thing, it's going to be at least a couple of more hours. Barring a miracle, someone will die first. I'm sorry."

Owen turned away shrugging off the consoling hand Jack put on his slumping shoulder. "I need to get some air." He strode off, out past the pasture, past the field of dying plants, and down the long, winding road.

* * *

It was a relief to get away from the house, from the ghosts of his impoverished childhood, and the stink of impending failure. Death was going to win. It was going to claim that woman and her husband, their child and finally Toshiko, and there was sod all he could about it.

Owen kicked at the dirt road and took a deep breath of the rich air so thick with the scent of pine and hemlock, dirty wool and sheep shit that it choked him. He coughed and sputtered until he was forced to bend over and clutch at his knees as he blinked to clear his streaming eyes. He straightened, looked up, and amid the green pasture and dozens of slowly moving white shapes saw a red blur. He used the edge of his tee-shirt to wipe away his tears and stared in disbelief.

One Blooms Too Late in all its glory — vibrant red petals, florescent yellow stamens and all — majestic among the clover and pasture grass. Owen scanned the rest of the field carefully, but that was the only one he saw. There were clean gloves in his back pocket. He put them on, tearing the wristbands in his haste, reached for his comm and swore when he realised he wasn't wearing it. "Shit."

According to the archive notes, the plant was about as toxic as a cup of tea now that it was in full bloom, but Owen hesitated for a long moment before he grabbed the stem at the base and uprooted it. He let out a shaking breath, refilled his lungs, then ran flat out back to the farmhouse. His mood suddenly as bright as the sun that rose high over the mountains.

* * *

"Where did you get that?" Jack demanded as Owen ran with his prize into the barn.

Owen cleared a space at the end of the workbench they'd commandeered, snapped the blossom off the central stalk, and threw the rest of the plant onto the ground at his feet. "Side of the road." He rummaged among the lab gear looking for a scalpel and a sterile dish to put the viscous resin.

"Out of my way, Captain." He nudged Jack away from his cache of equipment and found the safety striker for the Bunsen burner. The burner, already attached to a portable gas cannister, woke to life with a whoosh of blue flame.

"Right. Now —" He cut the base away from the blossom, hesitated for a moment, and then carefully began to separate the membrane from the outer wall. He turned the base over and the pulp fell into the Pyrex bowl. Using the flat of the scalpel, Owen mashed the resin against the bottom of the dish, finally lifting the membrane away.

"Now we'll add a bit of water to speed things along." Owen added a generous squirt of sterile saline from a litre bag and stood back with his arms folded over his chest as the resin began to melt and bubble gently.

"How much longer?" Jack asked in a pensive voice.

"Not much. Just... see? It's starting to turn blue." Owen stirred gently, helping the process along. "Yes!" he practically crowed as the concoction turned vibrant cobalt. "That, Jack, is life!" Using a wide bore needle he pulled the solution into a large syringe, capped it off, and bolted for the house. Jack killed the flame under the dish and followed.

* * *

The patients were resting, out of immediate danger. The little girl was nestled sleeping sweetly between her parents, and Owen was on the phone with Emergency Services arranging bed space at Cardiff General and helicopter transport to get them there.

He was inordinately pleased when he rung off. "It'll be touch and go for a while," he said to Jack. "That kid needs to go to the top of the lung transplant list and her mum is going to be under the care of a cardiologist for the rest of her days. Still, I think we can call this a good result."

"And Toshiko?"

Toshiko shifted restlessly whilst Jack fussed with her fringe. Her eyes fluttered and she smiled up at him weakly. "I'm here." She blinked owlishly and realised how worried Jack seemed. "Tired, but still here." She noticed the IV taped to the crook of her elbow and frowned. "What happened?"

"I've warned you about strange animals," Owen said. He tapped the end of her nose with a fingertip before checking the state of her eyes and gums. "Maybe next time you'll listen." He glanced over at Jack. "A couple of days in hospital for observation, then a week or ten days of light duty."

"Glad to here that." He smiled at Toshiko and gave her hand a brief, but heart felt, squeeze. "Get better." She nodded at him and drifted back to sleep.

Gwen peeked around the door frame. Ianto was behind her. "We've been walking the fields for hours. No sign of any more plants."

"The sheep probably got them." Owen stood and stretched. "For once I've got nothing bad to say about the woolly bastards."

"And on that note —" Jack clapped his hands together and then winced as Toshiko stirred restlessly and Owen shushed him. "Let's pack up and get ready to go home."

* * *

It was late when they got back to Cardiff. Owen flew with his patients to the hospital leaving Gwen and Ianto to unpack the SUV and the Audi whilst Jack dealt with a phone call from Whitehall. The two remaining alien plants that hadn't been harvested went to the medical bay for Owen to continue his research.

"What will you do with these?" Gwen stared down at the leftover apples and bananas.

Ianto picked up banana. After several days, two long drives, and fairly rough handling, it seemed rather worse for wear. "Dunno. Your Rhys cooks, doesn't he? Do you suppose he knows a good recipe for banana cake?" He tossed the banana in with the rest and carried the box into the Hub.


End file.
